Romans 9:6-29 Outline and Summary

 

In introducing the subject of God’s rejection of Israel, and God’s calling the Gentiles to salvation, Paul establishes the absolute right of God to do with His fallen creatures as He pleases.

 

Introduction

•        Paul demonstrates from the Old Testament that God’s promise to Abraham never meant that He would save all of his physical descendants

•        What the promise meant was that God would give Abraham a spiritual seed.

•        He would create a spiritual nation out of some, but not all, of Abraham’s natural descendants

•        Paul shows that from the outset it had been up to God as to how many and which of Abraham’s physical descendants would be included in the promise and be saved

 

I. (verses 6-13) God had not broken His promise to Abraham to save his descendants - to make them His children.

A. (verses 6-8) The promise never embraced all of Abraham’s  physical descendants. From the beginning it was restricted to those whom God had determined to include in the promise (namely those whom He had chosen unto salvation “in Christ” before the creation of the world cf., Ephesians 1:4,11,12) For as the apostle explains -

 

9:6a

 

It is not as though

God’s Word
[His promise to Abraham]

had failed

 

[verse 6a sets the stage for the argument presented by Paul in verses 6b-29; namely that the rejection of the greater part of the Jews by God in no way means that “God’s word had failed” - that His declared purpose of grace announced to Abraham centuries before had been frustrated.]  
9:6b

For [here is why God’s word had not failed in spite of the fact that the majority of the Jews (Abraham’s natural descendants) were in a state of unbelief]

not all

who are descended from Israel [according to the flesh]

are Israel [members of spiritual Israel, the true Israel of God. See Romans 2:28,29; 4:9-18; Galatians 3:6-11,16,26-29; 6:14-16]
9:7

Nor because they [the Israelites]
are his descendants [by physical birth]

are they all Abraham’s
[true, spiritual] children.

On the contrary [as Genesis 21:12 says],

“It is through Isaac [Abraham’s second son] that your offspring will be reckoned [counted].”

 

[GSPD, “but he [Abraham] was told,‘The line of Isaac will be called your descendants.’”]
9:8

In other words,

It is not the natural children [of Abraham]

who are God’s children,

but it is

the children of the promise

who are regarded

as Abraham’s [true, spiritual] offspring.

 

[GSPD, “That is to say, it is not his [Abraham’s] physical descendants who are children of God, but his descendants born in fulfillment of the promise who are considered his true posterity.”]



 [Notice carefully that the subject being discussed by Paul is salvation! Those included in “the promise” are made “God’s children.” Those who are excluded by God from the promise are not made His children; God does not show mercy to them, He does not save them by grace.]

 

B. (verses 9-13) To illustrate and prove his point, Paul cites two examples drawn from the book of Genesis, in which God had excluded two of Abraham’s physical descendants from His promise to make them His children while having chosen two others to be included in the promise.

1. (verse 9) The first example of rejection and election: God rejected Ishmael, Abraham’s first son, and chose Isaac, his second son, to be included in “the promise” of salvation. Isaac, but not Ishmael, was made a child of God; yet both were Abraham’s physical children.

 

9:9

 

For this was how the promise was stated [by God to Abraham]:

       “At the appointed time I [God] will return,

         and Sarah [Abraham’s wife]

         will have a son [Isaac].”

 

 

God Rejected Ishmael and Chose Isaac to Share in the Promise of Salvation
Romans 9:8-9

 

Romans 9:9 shows that God’s promise only embraced Abraham’s second son Isaac. Though Paul does not name Ishmael (Abraham’s first son) the Genesis account makes it clear that Ishmael had already been rejected by God and excluded from the promise.

 

 

 

2. (verses 10-13) The second example of rejection and election: God rejected Esau and chose Jacob (his twin brother) to share in the promise of salvation. As God Himself declared centuries later, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated (verse13).

 

9:10

Not only that [God’s rejecting Ishmael and choosing Isaac],

but Rebecca’s children [the twins, Esau and Jacob]

had one and the same father,

our father Isaac. 
9:11

Yet before the twins were born

or had done anything good or bad

-- in order that

God’s purpose in election

might stand [be continued, be accomplished]

 
9:12

Not by works [human achievement]

but

by Him [God] who calls
[summons, draws dead sinners
to salvation by grace]

-- she [Rebecca]

was told [by God],

“The older [Esau]
will serve the younger [Jacob].”
9:13

Just as it is written
[in Malachi 1:2-3; God is the speaker]:

“Jacob I loved,
but Esau I hated.”

 

 

God Rejected Esau and Chose Jacob to Share in the Promise of Salvation
Romans 9:10-13

 

 

 

 

God rejected Esau and chose Jacob before they were born or had done anything good or bad. Why did God announce His choice in advance to Rebecca? Paul says it was,

"In order that God’s purpose in election might stand" (Romans 9:11)

By announcing His choice in advance God made it clear that He chooses whomever He wants to choose, not because He saw they would or would not meet certain conditions (“not by works”), but He chose them according to His sovereign purpose and good pleasure.

 

II. (verses 14-24) Does God’s act of election - His choosing some sinners to be saved by grace but not others -- make God unjust? Does God’s sovereign control over men render them unaccountable?

[In this section Paul raises and answers the two most common objections which men make against the doctrine of sovereign unconditional election unto salvation (objections which Arminians constantly raise against Calvinism).]

A. (verses 14-18) Objection number one: God does not have the right to choose some men to be saved by grace, but not others. Paul gives a twofold rebuttal

 1. (verses 14-16) - God Himself declares that He shows mercy to whomever He chooses to show mercy. (Are you willing to contradict God? Are you prepared to say that God does not have the right to do what He says He does?)

 

9:14

What then shall we say?

Is God unjust [notice how Paul answers]

Not at all! [Why not? Notice the reason Paul gives]

 
9:15

For He [God] says to Moses [in Exodus 33:19b],

       “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,

         and

         I will have compassion [pity] on whom I will have compassion.”

        [Paul then draws a conclusion from the words spoken by God]

 
9:16

It [being saved]

does not, therefore,

depend

on man’s desire [RSV, “upon man’s will”]

or

[man’s] effort [his trying to meet certain conditions],

but

on God’s mercy.

       [WMS, “so one’s destiny does not depend on his own willing or strenuous actions but on God having mercy on him.”]

 

 

2. (verses 17-18) God’s right to show mercy or withhold mercy was demonstrated in the way He dealt with Pharaoh; instead of showing Pharaoh mercy, God hardened his heart.

 

9:17

 

For the scripture says to Pharaoh [in Exodus 9:16],

       “I [God] raised you up

         for this very purpose.

         That I might display my power in you

         and

         that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

 

9:18

 Therefore [here is Paul’s conclusion]

God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy

and

He hardens whom He wants to harden

 

[Note: Just as God hardened Pharaoh's heart, He had hardened the hearts of the majority of the Jews in Paul’s day as Paul declares:

       Romans 11:7-8 - What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, as it is written: "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day.]

 

B. (verses 19-24) Objection number two: Critics of God’s sovereignty foolishly assert that if God controls men’s destiny then He cannot hold them accountable for their actions; He cannot punish them for their sins. This is a common objection raised by Arminians against Calvinism.

 

9:19

One of you will say to me:

“Then [Paul, in light of what you are saying]

why does God still blame us?

For who resists His will?

 

[If you are such an objector listen carefully to the warning given by Paul in verses 20-23, in the form of four questions.]

 

[Question #1]

9:20

 

But who are you, O man [a mere creature, a corrupt sinner],

to talk back to God?

“Shall what is formed
say to Him who formed it,
Why did you make me like this?’”
[What audacity for a sinful creature
to talk like this to Almighty God,
the Creator!]

 

[Question #2]
9:21

Does not the Potter [God is the potter]

have the right

to make out of

the same lump of clay [fallen humanity is the clay]

some pottery for noble purposes [His elect]

and

some for common use [the non-elect]?

 

[Question #3]
9:22

What if God,

choosing to show His wrath

and

make His power known

bore with great patience

the objects of His wrath [the non-elect]

--prepared for destruction?

 

[Question #4]

9:23

 

What if He [God] did this

to make the riches of his glory known

to the objects of his mercy [the elect],

whom he prepared in advance for glory--

9:24

 

even us, whom he also called [drew to Christ],

not only from the Jews [Abraham’s physical descendants]

but also from the Gentiles?

 

III. (verses 25-29) Making Gentiles His children and excluding the vast majority of Jews from salvation was a part of God’s sovereign, predetermined plan, a plan made known by God in the Old Testament

A. (verses 25-26) God announced in advance, through His prophet Hosea, that the time would come when He would save the Gentiles. This prediction was being fulfilled in Paul’s day.

 

9:25

As He [God] says in Hosea [2:23]:

"I will call them [Gentiles] 'my people'
who are not my people;
and I will call her 'my loved one'
who is not my loved one,"

 

9:26

 

and [in Hosea 1:10],

"It will happen that in the very place
where it was said to them, [the Gentiles]
'You are not my people,'
they will be called 'sons of the living God.'"

 

B. (verses 27-29) God had foretold through His prophet Isaiah that the time could come when He would save only a remnant (a small portion) of the Israelites (Abraham’s physical descendants). This prediction was being fulfilled in Paul’s day.

 

9:27

Isaiah cries out concerning Israel [in Isaiah 10:23]:

"Though the number of the Israelites
be like the sand by the sea,
only the remnant [small portion]
will be saved.
9:28

For the Lord will carry out
His sentence on earth
with speed and finality."

 
9:29

It is just as Isaiah said previously [in Isaiah 1:9]:

"Unless the Lord Almighty
had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah.
[completely destroyed,
no Jews would have been saved]."